Kush Maini: Monaco Magic And India’s Next Big Racing Star
When the Indian national anthem played at Monaco in May 2025, it felt like a shift in Indian motorsport. Kush Maini had just won the Formula 2 Sprint Race on the most iconic street circuit in the world, becoming the first Indian to win an F2 race at the Monaco Grand Prix weekend. For a young driver from Bengaluru, it was a moment that said very clearly: he belongs at the sharp end of global racing.
That win did not come out of nowhere. It was the result of almost a decade of grinding through Europe’s junior categories, learning to survive and then to win. Today, as a Formula 2 race winner, Alpine Formula 1 reserve and Mahindra Racing’s official reserve driver in Formula E, Kush sits at the crossroads of two big stories, India’s F1 dream and India’s electric future.
Racing is in the Maini family’s blood. Kush grew up in Bengaluru in a household where talk of lap times and engineering was normal. His elder brother Arjun raced in GP3 and Formula 2, while his uncle Chetan Maini helped pioneer electric cars in India through the Reva project that later became part of Mahindra. For Kush, speed and batteries were part of the same family story.
He started karting young and, like many future single seater stars, shifted to Europe while still in his teens. Between 2011 and 2015 he raced in top level karting championships and picked up national titles and strong results against some of the best young drivers in the world.
The big step came in 2016 when he moved into single seater racing with Italian F4. It was a tough championship with packed grids and unforgiving circuits, but Kush adapted quickly. A second season brought more podiums and showed he was not just making up the numbers.
In 2018 he stepped up to BRDC British Formula 3. That year he took a memorable reversed grid win at Rockingham and finished third overall in the standings. By 2020 he was back in British F3 with Hitech, this time fighting right at the front and ending the season as championship runner up. Year after year, the same pattern emerged, new series, new challenge, and Kush climbing towards the front.
From British F3, Kush moved up through Formula Renault, Asian F3 and endurance racing, but the real pressure arrived with FIA Formula 3 and then Formula 2, the final gateway to Formula 1. In 2022 he raced in FIA F3, then stepped up to F2 in 2023 with Campos Racing, scoring solid points and a podium in Melbourne in front of the F1 paddock. His breakthrough came in 2024 with Invicta Racing, with a run of strong results and a Sprint Race win at the Hungaroring after the original winner was disqualified. For 2025 he joined DAMS Lucas Oil and turned reverse grid pole into a faultless Sprint Race victory at Monaco, soaking up constant pressure on the tight street circuit and making history for himself and for Indian motorsport.
Kush’s story is no longer just about petrol engines and the road to Formula 1. As Mahindra Racing’s official reserve driver in Formula E, he has already shown serious pace in rookie tests and proved he can adapt his driving to demanding electric machinery.
Away from the cameras he spends long hours in the simulator, helping engineers and race drivers refine software, set up and race strategy. For a family that has been part of India’s EV journey for years, and for a brand that is one of the country’s biggest electric players, having an Indian driver ready to step in when Mahindra races on the streets of Berlin, Diriyah or Tokyo makes the story even more powerful.
What sets Kush apart is not just his results, but the people and teams that have chosen to back him. He is mentored by two-time Formula 1 world champion Mika Häkkinen, a driver who knows exactly what it takes to survive the politics and pressure of the very top. He is part of the Alpine Academy and serves as test and reserve driver for the Alpine F1 team, putting him in the small group of drivers trusted to jump into a Formula 1 car at short notice if needed.
Yet, whenever he speaks, the message is simple. Focus on F2. Deliver every weekend. Let the results do the talking. You get the sense of someone who understands that Monaco and Hungary are not finish lines, but checkpoints.